A Winter of Hard Work at Arran Brewery!

We've been very busy this winter and since it's nearly Spring we thought we'd fill you in on all the news here on Arran!

Brewery TLC

The Hot Liquor and Hop Copper Pre-polish

Our first project of the year was to give the old brewery a bit of love and care. We at Arran Brewery are getting on in years these days, we used to be considered one of the young and upcoming micro breweries that sprung up in the early millennium but now at 26 years old this year we find ourselves as one of the last of the Old Guard!

Now while 26 years is a long time in it's own right, our brewing equipment is even older! The true age and records have been lost to time (and bad filing) but we know our traditional brewing equipment and method are at least another 20 years older, with our higher estimates suspecting that it may be well over 50 years old!

After 50 years of hard graft our resident Head Brewer decided that the old kit could do with a bit of love and care, so instead of staying at home this Christmas he (along with some help from his dad Mark!) decided to make our copper tanks shine again!

Post-polish Hot Liquor & Hot Copper

It took a lot longer and a lot more brasso than we expected but we believe the old girls deserved it and think it was well worth the effort!

You can see a few progress pictures below.

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Special Reserves are back!

Oh yes, you betcha, we've been to see our ever generous friends at Arran Distillers and come back with some of their always fabulous casks.

Our premium classic the Milestone Special Reserve has already been filled into Bourbon Casks and is beginning it's multiple month maturation!

Now that's not all, this year is Yorick's first time being in charge of the Special Reserve beers and as many of you may know he tends to get over excited....

Now we don't ever like to count our chickens before they hatch, or rather count our barrels before they mature... but this year Yorick has also prepared a rare Clyde Puffer Reserve aged in a beautiful Sauternes Cask.

However that is not all! (We told you he gets over excited). For the first time ever we will be producing a Sleeping Warrior Special Reserve! The Sleeping Warrior is our most premium and fantastic Barley Wine sporting an 8.3% ABV. This beer ages well with time just like it's wine namesake so really it was a no brainer to mature a select reserve in another Sauternes Cask.

That leads us nicely into our next section....

Beer, Beer, Lots of Beer!

I told you we've been hard at work!

Over winter we've been able to sneak in some of our classic maltier beers in between Blonde Brews and we've got just about everything you could ever want being bottled in the near future!

Our deliciously sweet and smooth Oatmeal Stout; The Clyde Puffer was brewed just before Christmas and is currently away to be bottled!

The long lusted after Barley Wine; The Sleeping Warrior was brewed right at the beginning of the Year and is also away to be bottled!

Our Classic Amber; The Arran Milestone was brewed shortly after the Sleeping Warrior and will be on the next truck to the bottlers!

Finally we have just brewed our old friend the Black IPA: Arran Id who hasn't been seen for a few years. Back with a tweaked recipe, to quote Yorick: "this is the best beer I've ever made". This superb beer will be on the truck with the Milestone and hopefully back for Easter!

That's all for this Winter Update, back to making Blonde for all you thirsty Brewer Fans this summer!